We’re back again to continue the series, “Complete List of Blues Musicians” with the blues artists from that pioneered from the Kansas City Blues genre. So let’s get started and see what more we can learn about these fabulous artists.
Part V: Kansas City Blues:Name Birth Year Death Year
Francis Hillman "Scrapper" Blackwell (February 21, 1903 – October 7, 1962) was an American blues guitarist and singer; best known as half of the guitar-piano duo he formed with Leroy Carr in the late 1920s and early 1930s, he was an acoustic single-note picker in the Chicago blues and Piedmont blues style, with some critics noting that he veered towards jazz.
Blackwell was born in Syracuse, North Carolina, United States as one of sixteen children of Payton and Elizabeth Blackwell. Part Cherokee, he grew up and spent most of his life in Indianapolis, Indiana. Blackwell was given the nickname, "Scrapper", by his grandmother, due to his fiery nature. His father played the fiddle, but Blackwell was a self-taught guitarist, building his first guitar out of cigar boxes, wood and wire. He also learned the piano, occasionally playing professionally. By his teens, Blackwell was a part-time musician, traveling as far as Chicago. Known for being withdrawn and hard to work with, Blackwell established a rapport with pianist Leroy Carr, whom he met in Indianapolis in the mid-1920s, creating a productive working relationship. Carr convinced Blackwell to record with him for the Vocalion label in 1928; the result was "How Long, How Long Blues", the biggest blues hit of that year.
Blackwell made several solo excursions; a 1931 visit to Richmond, Indiana to record at Gennett studios is notable. Blackwell, dissatisfied with the lack of credit given his contributions with Carr, was remedied by Vocalion's Mayo Williams after his 1931 breakaway. In all future recordings, Blackwell received equal credit with Carr in terms of recording contracts and songwriting credits. Blackwell's last recording session with Carr was in February 1935 for the Bluebird label. The recording session ended bitterly, as both musicians left the studio mid-session and on bad terms, stemming from payment disputes. Two months later Blackwell received a phone call informing him of Carr's death due to heavy drinking and nephritis. Blackwell soon recorded a tribute to his musical partner of seven years ("My Old Pal Blues") before retiring from the music industry.
Blackwell returned to music in the late 1950s and was first recorded in June 1958 by Colin C. Pomroy (those recordings were released as late as 1967 on the Collector label). Soon afterwards he was recorded by Duncan P. Schiedt for Doug Dobell's 77 Records.
Scrapper Blackwell was then recorded in 1961, in Indianapolis, by a young Art Rosenbaum for the Prestige/Bluesville Records label. The story is recounted by Rosenbaum as starting three years before the recordings were made. While still growing up in his hometown of Indianapolis, an African American woman that Rosenbaum knew said he "had to meet a man that she knew, who played guitar, played blues and Christian songs, they'll make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck." Rosenbaum goes into more details of meeting Blackwell; "I met the gentleman across the street from the Methodist hospital in Indianapolis". Scrapper's friend said, "well he hasn't got a guitar", so Art said "well I got a guitar." Scrapper than said that he needed some 'bird food', with Rosenbaum being confused as to what he was referring to, Scrapper continued, "you gotta get some bird food for the bird, before the bird sings... beer!" Rosenbaum said, "I'm too young!" Scrapper and his friend continued, "we'll buy the beer, you just give us some money." Art concludes the meeting, "So we did, and he started playing these beautiful blues. I didn't realize he was Scrapper Blackwell till I mentioned his name to a blues collecting friend." To which then the friend exclaimed, "you met Scrapper Blackwell!?"
He was ready to resume his blues career when he was shot and killed during a mugging in an Indianapolis alley. He was 59 years old. Although the crime remains unsolved, police arrested his neighbor at the time for the murder. Blackwell is buried in New Crown Cemetery, Indianapolis.
Scrapper Blackwell 1903 1962 Walter Brown (August 1917 – June 1956) was a blues shouter who sang with Jay McShann's band in the 1940s and co-wrote their biggest hit, "Confessin' The Blues".
Born in Dallas, Texas, he joined McShann's orchestra, which also included saxophonist Charlie Parker, in 1941. Brown sang on some of the band's most successful recordings, including "Confessin' The Blues" and "Hootie Blues", before leaving to be replaced by Jimmy Witherspoon.
Brown's subsequent solo singing career was unsuccessful, although he recorded for the King, Signature and Mercury labels, and he briefly reunited with McShann for recording sessions in 1949.
Brown died in June 1956 in Lawton, Oklahoma, due to drug addiction
Walter Brown 1917 1956 
Jay McShann (January 12, 1916 – December 7, 2006) was an American Grammy Award-nominated jump blues, mainstream jazz, and swing bandleader, pianist and singer.
During the 1940s, McShann was at the forefront of blues and hard bop jazz musicians mainly from Kansas City. He assembled his own big band, with musicians that included some of the most influential artists of their time, including Charlie Parker, Bernard Anderson, Ben Webster and Walter Brown. His kind of music became known as "the Kansas City sound"
McShann died on December 7, 2006, at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City. Jay McShann was survived by his companion of more than 30 years, Thelma Adams (known as Marianne McShann), and three daughters - Linda McShann Gerber, Jayne McShann Lewis, and Pam McShann.
Jay McShann 1916 2006 Arnold "Gatemouth" Moore (November 8, 1913, Topeka, Kansas - May 19, 2004, Yazoo City, Mississippi) was an American blues and gospel singer, songwriter and pastor. A graduate of Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, he claimed to have earned his nickname as a result of his loud speaking and singing voice.
During his career as a recording artist, Moore worked with various jazz musicians, including Bennie Moten, Tommy Douglas and Walter Barnes, and had songs recorded by B.B. King and Rufus Thomas.
In 1949, Moore was ordained as a minister First Church of Deliverance in Chicago and went on to preach and perform as a gospel singer and DJ at several radio stations in Memphis, Birmingham and Chicago.
Moore holds distinctions as a survivor of the 1940 Natchez Rhythm Club Fire and as the first blues singer to perform at Carnegie Hall. A brass note on Beale Street Walk of Fame was dedicated to Moore in 1996. He was also featured in Martin Scorsese's 2003 documentary The Blues.
Arnold Moore 1914 2005 
James Andrew Rushing (August 26, 1901 – June 8, 1972), known as Jimmy Rushing, was an American blues shouter and swing jazz singer from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.
Rushing was known as "Mr. Five by Five" and was the subject of an eponymous 1942 popular song that was a hit for Harry James and others -- the lyrics describing Rushing's rotund build: "he's five feet tall and he's five feet wide". He joined Walter Page's Blue Devils in 1927, then joined Bennie Moten's band in 1929. He stayed with the successor Count Basie band when Moten died in 1935.
Rushing was a powerful singer who had a range from baritone to tenor. He could project his voice so that it soared over the horn and reed sections in a big-band setting. Basie claimed that Rushing "never had an equal" as a blues vocalist. George Frazier, author of Harvard Blues, called Rushing's distinctive voice "a magnificent gargle". His best known recordings are probably "Going to Chicago" with Basie, and "Harvard Blues", with a famous saxophone solo by Don Byas.
Jimmy Rushing c.1902 1972 
Big Joe Turner (Joseph Vernon Turner Jr., Kansas City, Missouri, May 18, 1911 – Inglewood, California, November 24, 1985) was an American blues shouter.
Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, Turner’s career as a performer stretched from the 1920s into the 1980s.
Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, Turner’s career as a performer stretched from the 1920s into the 1980s.
Known variously as The Boss of the Blues, and Big Joe Turner (due to his 6’2”, 300+ lbs. stature), Turner was born in Kansas City and first discovered his love of music through involvement in the church. Turner’s father was killed in a train accident when Joe was only four years old. He began singing on street corners for money, leaving school at age fourteen to begin working in Kansas City’s club scene, first as a cook, and later as a singing bartender. He eventually became known as The Singing Barman, and worked in such venues as The Kingfish Club and The Sunset, where he and his piano playing partner Pete Johnson became resident performers. The Sunset was managed by Piney Brown. It featured “separate but equal” facilities for white patrons. Turner wrote “Piney Brown Blues” in his honor and sang it throughout his entire career.
At that time Kansas City was a wide-open town run by “Boss” Tom Pendergast. Despite this, the clubs were subject to frequent raids by the police, but as Turner recounts, “The Boss man would have his bondsmen down at the police station before we got there. We’d walk in, sign our names and walk right out. Then we would cabaret until morning”. His partnership with boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson proved fruitful. Together they headed to New York in 1936, where they appeared on a bill with Benny Goodman, but as Turner recounts, “After our show with Goodman, we auditioned at several places, but New York wasn’t ready for us yet, so we headed back to K.C.”. Eventually they were spotted by the talent scout, John H. Hammond in 1938, who invited them back to New York to appear in one of his “From Spirituals to Swing” concerts at Carnegie Hall, which was instrumental in introducing jazz and blues to a wider American audience.
Due in part to their appearance at Carnegie Hall, Turner and Johnson scored a major hit with “Roll ‘em Pete”. The track contained one of the earliest recorded examples of a back beat. It was a song which Turner recorded many times, with various combinations of musicians, over the ensuing years.
In 1939, along with boogie players Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis, they began a residency at Café Society, a club in New York City, where they appeared on the same bill as Billie Holiday and Frank Newton’s band. Besides “Roll ‘em, Pete”, Turner’s best-known recordings from this period are probably “Cherry Red”, “I Want A Little Girl” and “Wee Baby Blues”.
In 1941, he headed to Los Angeles where he performed in Duke Ellington’s revue Jump for Joy in Hollywood. He appeared as a singing policeman in a sketch called “He’s on the Beat.” Los Angeles became his home base for a time, and in 1944 he worked in Meade Lux Lewis’s Soundies musical films. Although he sang on the soundtrack recordings, he was not present for the filming, and his vocals were mouthed by comedian Dudley Dickerson for the camera. In 1945 Turner and Pete Johnson opened their own bar in Los Angeles, The Blue Moon Club.
Turner made lots of records, not only with Johnson but with the pianists Art Tatum and Sammy Price and with various small jazz ensembles. He recorded on several record labels, particularly National Records, and also appeared with the Count Basie Orchestra. In his career, Turner successively led the transition from big bands to jump blues to rhythm and blues, and finally to rock and roll. Turner was a master of traditional blues verses and at the legendary Kansas City jam sessions he could swap choruses with instrumental soloists for hours.
Turner made lots of records, not only with Johnson but with the pianists Art Tatum and Sammy Price and with various small jazz ensembles. He recorded on several record labels, particularly National Records, and also appeared with the Count Basie Orchestra. In his career, Turner successively led the transition from big bands to jump blues to rhythm and blues, and finally to rock and roll. Turner was a master of traditional blues verses and at the legendary Kansas City jam sessions he could swap choruses with instrumental soloists for hours.
In 1951, while performing with the Count Basie Orchestra at Harlem’s Apollo Theater as a replacement for Jimmy Rushing, he was spotted by Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegün, who signed him to their new recording company, Atlantic Records. Turner recorded a number of hits for them, including the blues standards, “Chains of Love” and “Sweet Sixteen”. Many of his vocals are punctuated with shouts to the band members, as in “Boogie Woogie Country Girl” (“That’s a good rockin’ band!”, “Go ahead, man! Ow! That’s just what I need!” ) and “Honey Hush” (he repeatedly sings “Hi-yo, Silver!”, probably in reference to The Treniers singing the phrase in their Lone Ranger parody “Ride, Red, Ride”). Turner’s records shot to the top of the rhythm-and-blues charts; although they were sometimes so earthy that some radio stations wouldn’t play them, the songs received heavy play on jukeboxes and records.
Turner hit it big in 1954 with “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, which not only enhanced his career, turning him into a teenage favorite, but also helped to transform popular music. The song is fairly raw, as Turner yells at his woman to “get outa that bed, wash yo’ face an’ hands” and comments that she’s “wearin’ those dresses, the sun comes shinin’ through!” He sang the number on film in the 1955 theatrical feature Rhythm and Blues Revue.
Although the cover version of the song by Bill Haley And His Comets, with the risqué lyrics incompletely cleaned up, was a bigger hit, many listeners sought out Turner’s version and were introduced thereby to the whole world of rhythm and blues. Elvis Presley showed he needed no such introduction. His version of “Shake, Rattle And Roll” combined Turner’s lyrics with Haley’s arrangement, but was not successful as a single. In addition to the rock ‘n’ roll songs, he found time to cut the classic Boss of the Blues album.
After a number of hits in this vein, Turner left popular music behind and returned to his roots as a singer with small jazz combos, recording numerous albums in that style in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1966, Bill Haley helped revive Turner’s career by lending him the Comets for a series of popular recordings in Mexico (apparently no one thought of getting the two to record a duet of “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, as no such recording has yet surfaced). In 1977 he recorded a version of Guitar Slim’s song, “The Things I Used To Do”.
In the 1960s and 1970s he was reclaimed by jazz and blues, appearing at many festivals and recording for the impresario Norman Granz’s Pablo label, once with his friendly rival, Jimmy Witherspoon. He also worked with the German boogie-woogie pianist Axel Zwingenberger.
It is a mark of his dominance as a singer that he won the Esquire magazine award for male vocalist in 1945, the Melody Maker award for best ‘new’ vocalist in 1956, and the British Jazz Journal award as top male singer in 1965. His career thus stretched from the bar rooms of Kansas City in the 1920s (at the age of twelve when he performed with a penciled moustache and his father’s hat), on to the European jazz music festivals of the 1980s.
In 1983, only two years before his death, Turner was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
He died in Inglewood, California in November 1985, at the age of 74 of a heart attack, having suffered the earlier effects of arthritis, a stroke and diabetes. Big Joe Turner was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
Later styles :
Little Hatch (October 25, 1921 – January 14, 2003) was an American electric blues singer, musician and harmonica player. He variously worked with George Jackson and John Paul Drum
Born Provine Hatch, Jr. in Sledge, Mississippi, he learned to play harmonica from his father. Hearing blues and gospel music, Hatch knew he wanted to make music for a living. At age 14, his family moved to Helena, Arkansas and the blues scene caught his attention.
Hatch joined the Navy in 1943; after his tour of duty, he relocated to Kansas City, Missouri in 1946. After working for a cartage company for two years, he founded his own cartage business and married.
In the early 1950s, Hatch began jamming in blues clubs of Kansas City. He closed his business in 1954 and took a job with Hallmark Cards. In 1955, he formed and fronted his own band, playing on the weekends and a few nights a week. This act would continue for more than 20 years. By the late 1950s, Hatch's harmonica style became influenced by Chicago blues players such as Little Walter, Snooky Pryor and Junior Wells.
In 1971 German exchange university students recorded a Little Hatch performance. This became an album, entitled The Little Hatchet Band, but distribution was limited to Germany and Belgium. He retired from Hallmark in 1986 and his band, 'Little Hatch and the House Rockers', were hired as the house band of the Grand Emporium Saloon in Kansas City. A cassette of his blues performances at the Grand Emporium was released in 1988.
In 1993, the Modern Blues label released Well, All Right! and became his first nationally-distributed album. In 1997, Chad Kassem opened Blue Heaven Studios and founded the APO label. Kassem had befriended Little Hatch in the mid 1980s and asked him to be his first signed recording artist. In 2000, the album Goin' Back was released and was followed by Rock with Me Baby in 2003.
From 1999 to 2001, Hatch occasionally toured other parts of the United States, and twice toured Europe. He settled back down as a Kansas City performer, frequently playing at BB's Lawnside Bar-B-Q and other venues. In 2002, Hatch was diagnosed with cancer.
Hatch then died in El Dorado Springs, Missouri, in January of 2003.
Little Hatch 1921 2003 
Lee McBee (born March 23, 1951, Kansas City, Missouri, United States) is an American electric blues musician, singer and harmonica player.
Though he is primarily a regional blues act in the Midwest, McBee gained national attention in the late 1980s and early 1990s for his work with Mike Morgan and the Crawl and for his band the Passions. These bands toured the United States, Canada and Europe and recorded on major blues labels. McBee grew up in Kansas City and collected blues and soul records throughout the 1960s. In 1969, he moved to Lawrence, Kansas and worked in many blues and blues rock bands, including Tide and Lynch-McBee Band, up to 1978.
From 1978 to 1982 McBee moved to Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles and recorded and performed with Bonnie Raitt, Jimmy Rogers, Doug Sahm and Johnny Winter. By the mid 1980s, he settled in Dallas and met guitarist Mike Morgan in 1985. They formed the Crawl and they would be together for the next twelve years. In 1994, McBee began a side project with The Passions. This band would be relocated to Kansas City as its base and soon evolved into Lee McBee and the Confessors. Throughout the 2000s, McBee and his band toured northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri and released two albums.
Lee McBee 1951 This group of blues musicians were drawn to the Kansas City Blues Style of music from many other areas of the country as you can see by reading each of their Bio’s. The next segment of this series on Blues Musicians is called, Part VIa: Chicago/Detroit Blues
My regular sources are as follows;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page | http://www.bluesnexus.com/
http://bluesunderground.blogspot.com/ | http://www.last.fm/
http://www.bing.com/
Have a wonderful Sunday, the weather appears to be favorable for us in the Metro DC area today so I’ll be able to cut my grass and get my lawn in shape for the upcoming week. I’ve been rather lax at taking care of it this year because of my surgery but I’m feeling much better now so I have to get back to taking care of my property, then devote time to my guitar, my music and of course my blog / website.
I hope all of you are making time to do the things that you love to do, because if not, time passes us by faster than we can even imagine and we can lose the opportunities to do them. Spend a little time on yourself, (not in front of the TV, get off the couch and do something that makes you happy). It will change your life.
Until next time;
Musician By Night . . .
why don't you credit me as photographer of the McShann pic, and I don't recall giving you permission to use it . . . . P WIGHT
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